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Test #1: Subjects met a group of strangers and were asked whom they might like to work with in the future. Later, researchers told some of the subjects that no one wanted to work with them and told others that everyone wanted to work with them.

Test #2: Scientists gave subjects a personality test. Afterwards, they told one group of subjects that they were destined to go through life alone while another group was told they would have plenty of friends.

After both scenarios, the researchers tested subjects on their moods and intelligent thought including IQ, reading comprehension, and logic problems. In both cases, the rejected students' IQs dropped 25%. This suggests that ego, self-esteem, and social rejection are closely connected to intelligence.

Roy Baumeister, the professor behind the study says: "The need to belong is the most powerful of human impulses. We want to know what happens when we block that." A lot of the structures inside our minds are there to help us get along with others. When people are faced with rejection, some of those connections in the brain begin to fail.

One might think that mental processes aimed at creating useful relationships would go into high-gear when initially unsuccessful. But, as usual, most minds seem to collapse when they meet with a lack of immediate success.

What can happen then in an interview situation when rejection is known to be a real possibility? Most likely the awareness of potential rejection leads to a lower level of performance due to a readiness to abandon the project. But this obviously isn't true of everybody.